MANILA, Philippines -- Twenty countries worldwide, including the Philippines, will go on an all-day hand washing event on October 15 to teach the public, especially children, the importance of regularly cleaning hands.

The project will be launched following studies that non-washing of hands leads to several fatal diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia, among others.

World Health Organization statistics show that every year, diarrhea kills some two million children worldwide while in the Philippines alone, there are 1.5 million diarrhea cases leading to the deaths of at least 10,000 children.

Aside from this, about 10 percent of children below five years old carry symptoms of acute respiratory infections while 70 percent of pre-schoolers are host to at least a type of intestinal worm.

However, officials said the number could be easily lowered if only children would be able to do the easy hygiene habit.

?Proper handwashing should be started at home. We must educate our children even at their young age the importance of handwashing,? said Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, Department of Health spokesman.

Oliveros said proper hand washing would include cleansing with running water and soap and ensuring that every hand area especially in-between fingers would be dirt-free. Hands must be washed in "critical moments" like after using the toilet, after cleaning a child, and before handling food.

But Oliveros acknowledged that many children were not able to wash their hands regularly due to lack of access to basic sanitation, with statistics pegged at almost 60 percent of observed handwashing respondents not being able to wash hands during the critical moments.

"We still have the big number of deaths that?s why Philippines is a priority country for [UNICEF] millennium development goal. That?s a big number and we don?t want to be complacent," said Dr. Marisa Ricardom, UNICEF Health and Nutrition section, adding that they intend to put up wash booths in rural schools so children can keep the practice.

Aside from UNICEF, DoH, the Department of Education, and Proctor and Gamble, will also take part in the event.

"We highlight the importance of handwashing with soap. There are multiple statistics about how a just simple act of handwashing of soap can prevent up to 44 percent of diarrhea cases," according to Maimai Punzalan of Proctor and Gamble.